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Infection and Immunity, September 2009, p. 3705-3712, Vol. 77, No. 9
0019-9567/09/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/IAI.01492-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Oligoclonal CD4+ T Cells Promote Host Memory Immune Responses to Zwitterionic Polysaccharide of Streptococcus pneumoniae
Laura Groneck,1
David Schrama,2
Mario Fabri,1
Tom Li Stephen,1,
Fabian Harms,1
Sonja Meemboor,1
Helena Hafke,1
Martina Bessler,1
Jürgen C. Becker,2 and
Wiltrud M. Kalka-Moll1*
Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, Medical Center, University of Cologne, Goldenfelsstrasse 19-21, 50935 Cologne,1 Department of Dermatology, Julius-Maximilians-University of Wuerzburg, Josef-Schneider-Strasse 2, 97080 Wuerzburg, Germany2
Received 8 December 2008/ Returned for modification 24 January 2009/ Accepted 13 June 2009
Zwitterionic polysaccharides of the normal flora bacteria represent a novel class of antigens in that they correct systemic CD4+ T-cell deficiencies and direct lymphoid organogenesis during colonization of the host. Presentation of these polysaccharides to CD4+ T cells depends on major histocompatibility complex class II- and DM-dependent retrograde transport from lysosomes to the cell surface. Yet the phenotype and clonality of the immune response to the polysaccharide in the mature host immune system have not been studied. Using the zwitterionic capsular polysaccharide Sp1 of Streptococcus pneumoniae, a transient member of the bacterial flora, in an experimental mouse model of cellular immunity, we demonstrated the accumulation of TH1- and TH17-polarized CD4+ CD44high CD62low CD25– memory T cells. Subcutaneous immunization with Sp1 resulted in an increase of serum immunoglobulin G (IgG), predominantly of the IgG1 subclass, and suggested the presence of a humoral memory response to the polysaccharide. CD4+ T cells stimulated with polysaccharide in vitro and in vivo showed a nonrestricted pattern for the T-cell receptor (TCR) β-chain variable region, as demonstrated by semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR and flow cytometry. Clonotype mapping of in vivo and in vitro polysaccharide-activated CD4+ T cells revealed clonotypic TCR transcripts. Taken together, the data show the induction of clonal expansion of CD4+ T cells by polysaccharides of commensal bacteria. Cellular and humoral memory host responses imply the ability of these polysaccharides to mediate the expansion of T cells via recognition within the CDR3 region of the TCR.
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, Medical Center, University of Cologne, Goldenfelsstrasse 19-21, 50935 Cologne, Germany. Phone: 49-221-32034. Fax: 49-221-32134. E-mail: Wiltrud.Kalka-Moll{at}uk-koeln.de
Published ahead of print on 22 June 2009.
Present address: Biomedical Research Building 2/3, 740 421 Curie Boulevard, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Infection and Immunity, September 2009, p. 3705-3712, Vol. 77, No. 9
0019-9567/09/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/IAI.01492-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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